Good news
if you were waiting for this premiere. TV Asahi confirmed Thursday that the
animated adaptation of the Akane-banashi manga will arrive
on television on April 4. But the real bombshell is another. For
those of us who live on this side of the pond, the complete episodes will be
broadcast totally free on YouTube, both for North America and Latin America.
Along with
the announcement, they released a poster and a new trailer. This preview let us
listen to a good piece of the official opening. The song is called
"Hitotarashi" and is performed by Keisuke Kuwata,
vocalist of the iconic band Southern All Stars.
Details
of Akane-banashi
The
premiere dynamic will be simple. The episodes will be uploaded to the YouTube
channel "Akane-banashi Global" right after they finish airing on
Japanese television. In fact, if you enter their channel right now, you can
already see the trailer with official subtitles in Latin Spanish, Portuguese
and English.
As for the
technical team, the ZEXCS studio is in charge of the animation.
They put Ayumu Watanabe in the director's chair (you probably remember him
from Children of the Sea). The character design is done by Kii
Tanaka, while Kikuhiko Hayashiya entered the project as a supervisor to ensure
that the representation of the rakugo is super authentic.
What is
the story about?
In case you
don't know the concept, rakugo is a traditional Japanese art. Basically, a
narrator sits alone on a stage and has to play multiple characters using only
their voice, their gestures, and a fan. There are no special effects or magical
scenery.
The plot
follows Akane Osaki. As a child, she idolized her father's magical
performances. However, everything goes to hell when he witnesses a scandalous
incident during his father's test to reach the supreme rank of master (shin'uchi).
Six years later, a teenage Akane decides to enter this competitive world. Her
goal is clear: to avenge her father's pride and become a shin'uchi herself
at all costs.
